Ah, I feel 100 Again!
On the one hand, this alleged miracle compound is found in red wine, so it’s not a hardship to take unlike a dose of Buckley’s mixture. In fact, if this story is true, there’s a good chance many of my friends are well on their way to a prolonged life based solely on their normal wine consumption. On the other hand, why would anyone want to live to be 150? Unless your body is capable of doing anything beyond clicking the TV controller by then, what’s the point of being 150?
Of course, I can see corporations wanting to cash in on the longer life expectancies by pushing the same old vanity stuff on older consumers. Face creams and face lifts will be big business. They can declare that 120 is the new 90 by showing ads depicting 100 year olds climbing hiking trails with their walkers. Think about the type of Viagra commercials that will run. Hugh Hefner will be dating 23 year olds…..again. At the other end of the consumer market, an announcement that Depends are 20 percent off at Costco will cause stampedes.
There are other more pragmatic consequences as well. How do people sustain themselves financially since most target 65 as a retirement age? You’d have to accumulate a lot of money to live another lifetime with whatever you’ve managed to save. If people live longer, then perhaps people will have to work longer too. If you think service is slow now at government offices, wait until you are being served by a clerk pushing a hundred.
Nobody wants to die prematurely, but in nature, all things have an expiry date. Things just naturally wear out and all warranties end. Just because science enables amazing feats of longevity, should that capability be exercised? Recently, there was an article in which some scientists claimed to be able to revive an extinct species. Why? Presumably, it went extinct for a reason. People should take it as a matter of fate that when a species fails to survive, there is likely a darn good reason why that happened. Usually, it boils down to two things. The species either ran out of things to eat, or itself was so good to eat, that other species finished them off. Either way, it seems to be Nature’s way of purging the herd. Even if it were possible to resurrect a Tyrannosaurus Rex, of what use is that? Then there’s that whole matter of the time/space continuum being upset or something to that effect.
There are those that believe that life and death both deserve to run their course with a certain sense of dignity and I happen to be one of them. We are opening up a huge barrel of unforeseen consequences by artificially extending the natural path of life. We’ll see see bald, wrinkly men who will sport pony tails in order to capture their coolness. Tattoos that seemed like a good idea during the impetuousness of youth will look like blobs of amorphous mold on leathery skin. These are things that once seen cannot be unseen. Let’s spare everyone.